Eon won't supply me unless I pay £400 security deposit.

Busybee5186

Hello,

Like everyone else I am on the hunt for cheaper energy to switch in time for winter. I work for the nhs and one of the offer for nhs employees was a good cheap tariff with E.ON collective fixed 1 year. This would have saved us £221 for the year.

I applied for it and printed out all the details. At no point was there mention of a credit check, I have very poor credit and know better than to go through a check I will not pass.

A few days later I received an email asking me to contact E.ON with the contact number between 8am - 8pm. As I work 9-5 I have tried calling for two weeks after 5pm staying on the phone for 30mins to 1hour waiting for someone to pick up. Until a few days ago I contacted E.ON's customer service instead to be told the department I need only open till 5pm- I have 3 emails telling me to contact them they open until 8pm. I spoke to E.ON and gave my wife authorisation to access my account and make decissions on my behalf.

She called them today to be told they performed a credit check which I failed and they require £400 security deposit (£200 per fuel) to provide us with gas and electric.

Not happening, I am not paying £400 to save £200. So does that mean because I have bad credit I cannot get a good cheap energy tariff?

And there is the issue of them checking my credit file without my authorisation! I am pretty sure this is not legal- is it?
They claim I called in and gave this authorisation verbally.
Definitely not true as I was working the time they said I called and it was before I received an email asking me to contact them. At no point have I been notified that there is a credit check involved. Surely that is violating personal data rights for them to check my credit without my consent. And I am worried it may affect my credit score, Can it?

Can I ask them to remove that search?

I have lodge a complaint with them, and will wait to find the outcome. Is this something I can complain to Ofgem about? And who do I report them to for accessing my credit without my consent?

If you have read until now, thank you and I hope you can help.

GingerBob_3

How precisely did you apply (phone, web, post etc.) and what personal information did you provide to them - especially, did you give them your FULL name and DoB?

Nada666

What's wrong with putting money aside to save money? Where else can you get guaranteed 50% interest on savings for a year? I bet you can't even find a 5% deal.

Stick your £400 away in this savings account, save £200 on the fuel, (50% 'interest') and also pocket an extra few pennies interest, too. (I think they pay you interest on the deposit.)

Nada666

Front page of Eon's site. Link to terms and conditions. In only the second subsection of the very first term they clearly indicate a credit check will be made (section 1.2). It's on the first screen of my only 736 pixels high laptop.

Busybee5186

I applied online and supplied my name and date of birth, and no I did not check E.ON's website as the tarriff does not show on E.ON's website. I did not apply via their website and feel that the terms and condition should have been made apparent when I applied. I have further learned that this deal is via broker not E.ON directly which they did not inform me about either. Unfortunately I do not have £400 to put away. Even to save £200. And they do not offer interest on the security deposit.
On the other hand my current supplier have just matched their tarriff, so I am now saving as much without having a credit check or paying £400 upfront. I have only been with my current supplier SSE for a month on a standard tarriff.

Busybee5186

Oh and thank you for taking the time to reply to my post and offer advice It may say on their website that they do credit check but since I did not apply via their website all the terms and conditions or a link to them should have been provided to me before/when I applied.
Moreover apparently they needed my permission to check my file as they have logged in their system I gave them verbal permission via a phone call which did not happen. If the form I filled to apply for energy from them was enough as permission to check my file the phoney phone call would not have been necessary.

GingerBob_3

Busybee5186 wrote: »

Oh and thank you for taking the time to reply to my post and offer advice It may say on their website that they do credit check but since I did not apply via their website all the terms and conditions or a link to them should have been provided to me before/when I applied.
Moreover apparently they needed my permission to check my file as they have logged in their system I gave them verbal permission via a phone call which did not happen. If the form I filled to apply for energy from them was enough as permission to check my file the phoney phone call would not have been necessary.

I'd be inclined to contract the Information Commissioner's Office about this one. The credit reference agencies tell us that all credit checks must be subject to permission, but this is far from the truth, as your case exemplifies.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Generally a bad credit rated individual will get a lousy tariff costing about £150 more per annum. Most suppliers also carry out a credit check on potential customers, to determine whether you are offered a credit or a pre-pay account.

Can I ask them to remove that search?

You can ask, but they almost certainly will not.

checking my credit file without my authorisation

It seems fair and logical to me that they would check, should check, and will check with or without your express agreement. You are applying for a service with a credit facility. Essentially you are asking them if they will advance you 1,271 worth of energy repayable in 12 monthly instalments. Each and every time you apply for credit [from anywhere] the company will credit check you, that credit check [each and every one of them] will then be recorded on your credit file.

Typical average prepay meter cost: £1,271
Typical cheapest prepay meter cost: £1,208
Typical cheapest credit meter cost: £990

GingerBob_3

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

Generally a bad credit rated individual will get a lousy tariff costing about £150 more per annum. Most suppliers also carry out a credit check on potential customers, to determine whether you are offered a credit or a pre-pay account.


You can ask, but they almost certainly will not.

It seems fair and logical to me that they would check, should check, and will check with or without your express agreement. You are applying for a service with a credit facility. Essentially you are asking them if they will advance you 1,271 worth of energy repayable in 12 monthly instalments. Each and every time you apply for credit [from anywhere] the company will credit check you, that credit check [each and every one of them] will then be recorded on your credit file.

Typical average prepay meter cost: £1,271
Typical cheapest prepay meter cost: £1,208
Typical cheapest credit meter cost: £990

Probably illegal, hence the suggestion that the OP should make enquiries with the ICO. Start by asking the supplier to provide you with evidence of your authorisation for the check.

The relationship between CRAs and utility providers is an interesting one. You could be permanently in credit, but if you miss a DD payment they may still report you to the CRAs. I must ask the ICO about this possibility when I've got a moment.

Nada666

Do make sure you double-check the name and cost of your new tariff with SSE with your likely annual usage.

Although they probably do have a similarly priced tariff there is no such thing as 'price matching' per se with domestic tariffs. Make sure they have not just quoted an attractive monthly instalment amount out of thin air.

Richie-from-the-Boro

GingerBob wrote: »

Probably illegal, hence the suggestion that the OP should make enquiries with the ICO. Start by asking the supplier to provide you with evidence of your authorisation for the check.

The relationship between CRAs and utility providers is an interesting one. You could be permanently in credit, but if you miss a DD payment they may still report you to the CRAs. I must ask the ICO about this possibility when I've got a moment.

- I see the reality of what actually happens in practice
- apply for a Barclays debit card, no check needed
- apply for a Barclays credit card, a credit check is needed

Someone may want to correct me, indeed GingerBob may be correct, but in this case I see it differently to GingerBob. In this case the O/P applied for an NHS sponsored group[ing] deal brokered by a third party [after only one month with SSE on a standard tariff] for energy from EoN. From EoN's point of view, that's 'implied' contractual terms.